Usually, what comes to mind when you think of Hell?
Yeah. Hot fire, fucking hot fire, and really fucking hot fire.
But having actually fallen into Hell, the reality was nothing like that.
It was just a crimson space, dyed blood-red from the sky to the floor.
"There's really nothing here."
I thought to myself as I floated in mid-air with my legs crossed and arms folded, as if in a state of zero gravity.
I realized that a true Hell is a place where there is absolutely jack shit.
The surface world has so much; why is Hell the only place like this?
The Soul King must have known Hell existed. Even if a sky was impossible, he could have at least made some ground.
After a brief moment of sighing while drifting through the void, a small island far in the distance caught my eye.
"An island?"
It was a bit too wide to be called an island, yet too small to be called a continent.
For a fleeting second, the word 'China' popped into my head, but I wiped it from my mind.
No matter how much of a demonic realm the human world can be, comparing it to Hell is a bit much.
Yeah, even so, it's not quite Hell. There are still good people there, after all.
"Should I head over for now?"
I tensed my legs, kicked off the air, and plummeted straight toward the island.
With a thunderous boom, I landed on the ground and tested my movements lightly.
Unlike when I was outside the island, I felt a subtle resistance. No, rather, it was a familiar sensation.
Right. Gravity. It was gravity.
"Does that mean there's zero gravity outside this land?"
Gravity and zero gravity existing in the same space?
Of course, it's a known fact that if you go up, up, and vertically high enough, you reach the zero-gravity vacuum of space.
But for gravity and zero gravity to coexist horizontally makes no sense.
Back in my elementary, middle, and high school days, I averaged around a 68 in Earth Science. Even if I'm no expert, I can tell this situation is pure nonsense.
They call it the 'slit between worlds,' and it seems even the laws of physics do whatever the hell they want here.
Or does this space just lack laws entirely?
"Hmm... Mm..."
Sigh, I don't know...
A meathead like me trying to figure out the laws of the world will only end in a headache.
Exhaling a deep sigh, I scratched my head and looked around.
It's not like looking around would explain much, but I should at least check what's here.
"Hmm."
There's nothing.
But...
"Why does this feel familiar?"
This is clearly a space I'm visiting for the first time, so why the sense of deja vu?
It was puzzling, but since it was too vague to do more than tilt my head, I decided to wander a bit and began walking through Hell.
As I've been saying, there is nothing in Hell.
Even the landmass was so small that after walking continuously for about ten days, I was able to make a full circle around the island.
If I had sprinted at full power, I could have circumnavigated it in under a minute. However, since all the urgent business was finished, I felt no need to rush. Walking leisurely ended up taking ten whole days.
"Hmm."
After the full tour, I was certain.
"This is the land where I fought the Soul King."
That long, straight gouge that had turned into glass was the part melted when the Soul King fired a Reishi cannon. That crater over there was made when I slammed the Soul King into the ground...
No matter how many times I looked, it was definitely that same land. The realization made me a bit lightheaded.
"Didn't this vanish when the Soul King converted it into Reishi...?"
Truly strange. And the land seemed much smaller than it was back then...
I crossed my arms and racked my brain, but I couldn't figure anything out.
I lacked the motivation to actually do anything anyway, having fought like a dog for a hundred years. As for training... I didn't even have a club, so what would I even do?
"...Let's just sleep for now."
Since there was nothing to do, I might as well get some shut-eye.
I lay down on my side, let out a long yawn, and closed my eyes.
It was time to work off a century's worth of fatigue.
* * *
Every human being must have had that experience of thinking, 'Wow, I really slept well.'
There's no specific criteria for it, but you just instinctively know because all the fatigue in your body has vanished.
For example, you wake up, your eyes snap open naturally, and you rise in a good mood, bathed in warm sunlight with the sound of sparrows chirping in the distance like music.
And then you realize it's Monday and the thought, 'Wow, I'm fucked,' naturally follows. That kind of experience.
That's exactly how I felt right now.
The moment I opened my eyes, the thought that trying to sleep more would just be a pointless waste of time came to me automatically.
"Shit. This goddamn body of mine."
Why am I cursing after a good sleep?
Because it wasn't weeks, it wasn't even days—I woke up after exactly eight hours.
In Hell, where the only things to do are shadowboxing the void, kicking the air, or lying spread-eagled on the floor and working hard at doing absolutely nothing, sleeping was the only way to kill time. And I had even failed at that.
"Sigh..."
Unable to stay lying down any longer, I sat up and let out a deep sigh.
What should I do?
No, seriously, what am I supposed to do?
"No Hollows, no people, no trees, no land..."
I really am the only thing here.
I descended into Hell with such confidence, but if I had known it would be like this, I would have just pretended to come here and secretly hidden somewhere else.
They say the best way to drive a person insane is to lock them in a room with nothing in it...
"THIS ROOM IS WAY TOO DAMN BIG, FUCK!!"
I shouted at the top of my lungs just in case anyone could hear, but far from getting an answer, I didn't even get an echo.
In the literal sense, the sound just vanished into nothingness.
"Phew... okay. I feel refreshed."
Nodding to myself, I stood up and stretched.
Having nothing to do was something I had felt viscerally since the moment I first opened my eyes in this world.
Wasn't training what I started simply because I didn't want to die and wanted to find something—anything—to do?
It's no different now than it was then. I just need to find my 'beginner's mindset' again.
"Alright. Let's do this."
Since I have no branches or clubs, the only training I can do is punching and kicking.
In that case, there's obviously only one type of training to perform.
"Ten thousand punches of gratitude."
Or was it ten thousand daily punches of gratitude?
Well, whatever.
I took my stance in a suitable spot and pressed my palms together.
"...What am I supposed to be grateful for?"
I hit a wall right at the start.
It took ten seconds just to make the first move because I was busy thinking about what to be thankful for.
The first thing I felt grateful for was this body, born with immense physical capabilities that I still couldn't decide were a blessing or a curse. It felt like a fresh sensation.
If I had just thrown punches without caring about 'gratitude,' I could have finished in less than ten minutes. But as soon as that single word 'gratitude' was involved, it felt like I had truly returned to the very beginning.
And so, I began the ten thousand punches of gratitude.
"Aw, fuck this. I can't do it."
I quit as soon as I hit 1,500. Don't look down on 1,500. In terms of time, it took eight hours.
Trying to find something to be grateful for with every single punch was pure torture.
"Isn't there anything to do..."
At that very moment.
Rumble...!
"Oh?"
With a massive sound, a shadow began to form beneath my feet. I looked up.
And what met my eyes at the edge of my vision...
Was a 'mountain range' wider than this island.
"Talk about a massive scale."
They say the mouth is the source of all calamity, and here I am, summoning a meteor.
Even so, dropping a whole mountain range on my head is crossing the line, isn't it?
After scratching my head and letting out a deep sigh, I threw a punch toward the sky, pulverizing the falling mountain in its entirety.
"Uh, what?"
Apparently, the damn mountain was an active volcano, because as soon as I shattered it, crimson magma exploded in all directions.
Even if I got drenched in it, it wouldn't cause major damage, but I hated the idea of it sticking to my skin and hardening. I twisted my body nimbly, dodging the falling clumps of lava.
Rumble....
"Another one?"
I looked up, and another mountain was falling.
What is this? The mountain version of some old building-crushing game?
It was obvious it would be annoying if I got buried, so I threw another punch, destroying the mountain and dodging the lava.
But after that, a third and a fourth mountain began to fall.
"What the hell are those crazies doing on the outside?"
Are they dropping mountains to kill me?
I considered it for a moment, but that wasn't it. The mountains weren't necessarily falling right on top of my head.
They felt like they were being dumped at random, with no rules or logic.
Much like trash thrown into a bin, bumping into things and falling irregularly.
"Are they using Hell as a trash can...?"
No, there's no way they'd do something so insane knowing I'm here.
They should know full well that if I put my mind to it, I could smash my way out of Hell or whatever this is.
"Hmm..."
Let's just watch for now.
Standing at the edge of the island—the edge of a new continent created by the fallen volcano—I scratched my head while watching another 'continent' drop in the distance.
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